Jury Selection Continues In Baby-Slayer Case

By Howard Schwach

DeLain A Jamaica man who brutally stabbed his girlfriend and her unborn baby is back on trial again after a four month hiatus in which he was forced to find a new attorney to replace the one who had fallen ill.

In May of this year, just as jury selection was to begin in the case of Derrick Redd, who is charged with killing a Rockaway bank teller and her unborn baby, the trial was put on hold because his private defense attorney was too ill to continue with the case.

“Redd’s attorney is ill and has withdrawn from the case,” a spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said at the time. “We now have to find him a new attorney and start all over again.”

Redd’s trial began anew with jury selection last week. Court officials say that the selection might last another week and that the trial should take at least two weeks, and perhaps longer.

Redd’s victims were Rockaway bank teller Naisha DeLain and her baby.

Police allege that, on October 25, 2008, Redd, who was then 35, stabbed to death DeLain and their child.

The victim had just taken maternity leave from the Capitol One Bank on Beach 116 Street and was due to deliver her baby within the week.

Police say that Redd did not believe that the baby was his and wanted his girlfriend to abort it, but she refused, perhaps sparking the murder.

“I wasn’t sure the baby was mine,” he allegedly told detectives. “I didn’t trust her with all my heart and we argued about an abortion.”

After DeLain’s mother had not heard from her daughter for a few days, she asked Redd, who had a key to the apartment at 109-57 Lefferts Boulevard in Ozone Park, to let her in so she could check on DeLain.

When they got to the apartment, the two found DeLain on the floor. Her neck was slashed and she had numerous stab wounds to her stomach, including six stab wounds to the fetus in utero, according to court sources. Both DeLain and her unborn child were declared dead at the scene by EMS workers.

DA Brown said at the time, “It is difficult to imagine a crime more heinous than that of a man brutally murdering a pregnant woman. What should have been a most joyous occasion for the victim and her family, the defendant is accused of turning into one of unbelievable sorrow – further compounded by the fact that he is alleged to have escorted the victim’s mother back to the murder scene and allowed her to make the grisly discovery.”

Redd was charged with second degree intentional murder, criminal possession of a weapon and a second degree abortional act.

If convicted of the top charge, Redd faces 25 years to life in prison.